Letting “All Natural” Go To My Head with Henna Hair Dye

During my Daniel Plan journey, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid putting chemicals, additives, and anything unnatural into my body. I haven’t gone entirely organic yet — although I did just pay $6.50 for a gallon of milk yesterday. Progress.

But it’s not just about what I’m putting IN my body… I’m also becoming more aware of what I put ON it. I’ve been exploring natural cosmetics, cleansers and other health and beauty products — and I came across a goldmine. It’s so exciting, I just have to share!

All-Natural Hair Dye?For the last eight years, I’ve been a redhead. No, it’s not natural — sorry to disappoint. I’m only a member of my family’s little “ginger trifecta” by chemical default. I was blessed with ashy-brown locks, which are more recently turning silvery-white in a hostile strand-by-strand takeover.

With no choice but to continue coloring, I began researching safer, synthetic-free hair color that would still give me Christina Hendricks vibrancy. The answer? Henna hair dye!

There are many brands of henna dye out there – but the easiest one for me to come by was LUSH’s henna and cocoa butter hair dye. Appropriately named “Caca Rouge,” the rich red henna block really does resemble a brick of manure. Or, as Mike so eloquently put it, “a pot brownie.”

If you’ve ever dyed your own hair before, forget everything you know. The process was much more labor
intensive than I’m used to — but these are the sacrifices I make to keep it all-natural. Here’s how henna hair dye works:

Break henna up into large pieces and put in a heatproof bowl.

Add hot water and let steep. Mix to a brownie-batter consistency.

Put on gloves (unless you want orange hands) and apply from back to front, coating hair thoroughly.
(A friend or hairdresserwould be really helpful here – it’s very hard to do by yourself!)

Cover in cling wrap for a more vibrant color. Leave on for two to four hours. Yes, it takes that long.

Rinse, shampoo (several times), and condition hair.

Other tips:

Use face cream or conditioner around your hairline and ears to protect skin – the henna will dye it.

Wrap hair in cling wrap and a towel for a more vibrant color. (It also keeps the henna from crumbling all over your house.)

Work quickly – the henna dries as it cools, like mud.

Don’t plan to see anybody during this time. You will look like a crazy person.

The results? I’m thrilled! It’s been three days — no fading whatsoever thus far. Here’s a quick before and after:

Before Henna Hair Dye

After Henna Hair Dye

I’ve been dyeing a long time… and I’ve never found such a beautiful red. With no stripping synthetics or harmful chemicals, LUSH’s henna hair dyes are healthy for my hair and scalp. The price point was reasonable, too – $25 for the henna block. I only needed half for my short hair and saved the rest for next time.

Bonus: LUSH doesn’t test products on bunnies, mice or any other furry critters in creation, so it’s animal-friendly, too.

What do you think?! Would you ever try henna hair dye? Comment below with your experiences and questions 🙂

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3 Comments

I love Henna Hair dye, I actually just used it for the first time last week and I am very pleased with the results.
However, I use Morrocco Method Intl. henna because it is all natural. I love Lush and all of their scents but one of their ingredients in all their products including henna is fragrance/perfume with can consist of thousands of other ingredients. The EWG database is a great website to see which product is hazardous and not based on a scale of 0-10. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ It rates every ingredient in the product and then also gives an overall rating of the product.